Syracuse, NY-- Four men were charged with felonies this morning after Syracuse police checking their illegally parked SUV found a pound of crack cocaine and a loaded handgun in the vehicle.

"It's good police work," said Sgt. Gary Bulinski. "We recovered a weapon and got a good amount of drugs off the street."

Officers Keith Simmons and Christopher Cowan were riding together at 1:40 a.m. when they saw a 2003 Lincoln Aviator parked illegally on the 500 block of Richmond Avenue.

When officers approached the SUV they saw four people and smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the interior, police said.

Police investigating recovered about a pound of "crack" cocaine, with an estimated street value of about $40,000, and a loaded semi-automatic 9mm handgun, Bulinski said.

Officers took into custody: the Lincoln's driver Sadiyq Issac, 34, of 416 Rowland St., and his passengers, James Caesar, 29, of 715 Spring St. and Tony Brown, 25, of 1030 Danforth St.. The three are from Syracuse.

A third passenger, Jamiah Bowens, 28, of 85 Evergreen Circle, Clay, was also taken into custody.

All four were charged with first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance,and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. All the charges are felonies.

They are also charged with misdemeanor seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Issac and Bowens were also charged with unlawful possession of marijuana.

They were housed in Justice Center and were scheduled to be arraigned today in Syracuse City Court.